Automatic machine for leveling printing characters.



I. S. DUNCAN.

AUTOMATIC MACHINE FOR LEVELING PRINTING CHARACTERS.

APPLICATION FILED AUGJ. I916.

Patented Sept. 11, 1917 4 SHEETSSHEET I.

LIZ

I -r l J. S. DUNCAN. AUTOMATIC MACHINE FOR LEVELING PRINTING CHARACTERS.

APPLICATION FILED AUG. 7, I916- 4 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

7h 1 9 1 I 1 t p Du S d .w m M P J. S. DUNCAN. AUTOMATIC MACHINE FOR LEVELING PRINTING CHARACTERS.

I APPLICATION FILED AUG-7, I916. 1,%3,6?-

Patented Sept. 11, 1917.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

J. S. DUNCAN. 'AUTOMATIC MACHINE FOR LEVELING PRINTING CHARACTERS. APPLICATION FILED AuGJ. 191s.

.]I. 39,67n j PatentedSept. 11,191?.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 4.

cairn earns arena marten JOSEPH DUNCAN, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO ADDRESSOGRAPH COMPANY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF ILLINOIS.

AUTOMATIC MACHINE iron Lnvnmne PRINTING CHARACTERS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Sept. 11!, MM W.

I Application filed August 7, 1916. Serial No. 113,664.

To all whom z'tmay concern 1 Be it known that I, Josnrn S. DUNCAN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county ofCook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Automatic Machines for Leveling Printing Characters, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to an automatic machine for leveling the faces of printing characters struck up from thebody of print- 1 ing plates. 1

Prior to my present invention printing characters have been formed on metal blanks by striking; up characters from the body of the blank. Numerous machines equipped with cooperating punches and dies have been devised for this purpose. The faces of the printing characters when so formed are more or less curved, particularly adjacent the edges, so that difficulty is experienced in obtaining sharply defined impressions from the plates. Furthermore, certain characters will, owing to slightinaccuracies of the punches and dies and the'operating mechanism therefor, be higher than others so that the faces of the characters are not in exactly the same plane. I

It is an object of my invention to provide means to correct this diflicult-y by bringing the faces of all of the characters in the same plane and flattening the faces to produce sharply defined edges thereon with the resulting improvement of the printing quality of the plates A further object of myinvention is 5 the l provision of an automatic attachmentfor'af machine for makingwprintingplates where= by printing plates of the desired character going structure is-well-known inthe art 0 maybe rapidly produced.

Further objects-and "advantages "of my j invention will be apparent as it is better understood by reference to the followings aecification when read in connection with theaccompanying drawing; illustrating the preferred embodiment thereof, in which -Figure1is an end elevation of a machine for -makingprintingplates with my attachmentnpplied thereto;

with" my attachment appliedtheretoy'parts -Fig;- 2 *is a front elevation of portion of machmefor making prmtrngplates- 0 V p operationof strikingup the pr1nt1ng-charbeing broken away for purposes of better illustration Fig. 3 is a rear elevation of the structure illustrated in Fig. 2;

Fig. 1 is a horizontal section on the line 4l-l of Fig. 2; I

Fig. 5 is a detail in elevation with parts in section illustrating the automatic controlling mechanism; and

Fig. 6 is a horizontal section on the line 6-6of Fig. 2.

Referring to the drawing I have illus trated a machine for making printingplates known as the graphotype andconiprising a frame 1, a pair of rotatable heads 2 and 3 bearing cooperating dies 4 and punches 5 adapted to be moved to position to strike up a printing character from the body of plate 6 which is'held in a jaw 7 mounted on a carriageS. The carriage 8 is supported by rollers 9 and 10 on a guide 11 and is movabletransversely of the machine to successively position different portions of the plate 6 between the punch l: and the die 5. The jaw 7 is movable transversely of the carriage 8 to produce the separate lines of printing characters. 8 is connected by a flexible band to a spring controlled drum 13 which biases the carriage S to the right, viewing Fig. 2, and a suitable cscapement (not shown) is pro- The carriage vided which permits the carriage 8 to move a distance equal to the width of a character and the necessary space between the characters after each individual character has been formed.

moved by the sprii'ig-coi'itrollcd drum 13th Then the last character has been formed the carriage Sis released andfis the extreme-right,viewing Fig. 2. Thegfore and isytherefore not described in detail, it l being" understood that the machine disclosedis 1llustrat1ve merely and that my invenit may be adapted.

Securedto the framel of the machine for making printing plates is frame- 1 i 'pr'o vided with abed 15 disposed in. a-linement and in-thesame plane with the support 16 along which the plate (5 is moved duringthe line position in Fig. 5, whereby the latch 48 is liftedso that its end isno longer in the path of movement of the wear plate 4:4: on

the arm 42. The cycle of operations is then completeuntil another plate 6 is disposed upon thebed 15.

From the foregoing description it will be readily understood that I have perfected a machine which is automatically operative to subject the faces of characters on a printing plate to pressure whereby thefaces are reduced to a common plane and provided with sharply defined edges. My machine is simple in construction and mode of operation and performs its desired function with great rapidity whereby the production of printing plates of the desired character is greatly facilitated. i

It willbe apparent that various changes may be made in the form, construction and arrangement of the parts without departing from the spirit and scopeof the invention or sacrificing any of the material ad vantages thereof, the form hereinbefore described being merely a preferred embodiment thereof.

I claim:

1. In a machine of the character described, the combination of a movable carriage having means thereon to hold a printing plate, a bed adapted to support said plate, pressure means associated with said bed andspaced therefrom a distance equal to the desired height of the printing characters on said plate, and means for automatically actuating said pressure means when a plate is disposed on said bed to reduce the faces of the printing characters to a common plane.

2; In a machine of the character described, the combination of a movable carriage. having means thereon to hold a printing plate, a bed adapted to support said plate, pressure means associated with said bed and spaced therefrom a distance equal to. the desired height of the printing characters on said plate, means for automatically actuating said pressure means when a plate is disposed on said bed to reduce the faces of the printing characters to a common plane, and means permitting said pressure means to remain inoperative when an obstruction is encountered thereby while said actuating means continues to operate.

3. In a machine of the character described, the combination of a movable. carriage having means thereon to hold a printing plate, a bed adapted to support said plate, a pressure roller associated with said bed and spaced therefrom a distance equal to the desired height of the printing characters on said plate, and means controlled by said carriage for automatically actuating said pressure roller when a plate is disposed on said bed to reduce the faces of the printing characters to a common plane.

4. In a machine of the character described, the combination of a movable carriage having means thereon to hold a printing plate a bed adapted to support said plate, a pressure roller associated with said bed and spaced therefrom a distance equal to the desired height of the printing characters on said plate, means controlled by said carriage for automatically actuating said pressure roller when a plate is disposed on said bed to reduce the faces of the printing charac ters, to .a common plane, and means permitting said pressure roller to remain inoperative when an obstruction is encountered thereby while said actuating means continues in operation.

5. In a machine of the character described, the combination of a movable carriage having means thereon to hold a printing plate, a bed adapted to support said plate, a pressure roller associated with said bed and spaced therefrom a distance equal to the desired height of the printing characters on said plate, and means for automatically actuating said pressure roller when a plate is disposed on said bed including a constantly driven member, driving mechanism therefor, means normally disengaged from said member and connected to said roller, and means for causing. engagement of said last-mentioned means with said member.

6. In a machine of the character described, the'combination of a movable carriage having means thereon to hold a printing plate, a bed adapted to support said plate, a pressure roller associated with said bed and spaced therefrom a distance equal to the desired height of the printing characters on said plate, and means for automatically actuating said pressure roller when a plate is disposed on said bed including a constantly driven member, driving mechanism therefor, means normally disengaged from said member and connected to said roller, and a trip controlled by said carriage for causing engagement of said lastanentioned means with said member.

7. In a machine of the character described, the combination of a movable carriage having means thereon to hold a printing plate, a bed adapted to support said plate, a pressure roller associated with said bed and spaced therefrom a distance equal to the desired height of the printing characters on said plate, and means for automatically actuating said pressure roller when a plate is disposed on said bed, including a constantly driven member, driving mechanism therefor, means normally disengaged from said member and connected to said roller, a trip controlled by said carriage for causing engagement of said last-mentioned means with said memher, and a resilient connection between said constantly driven member and the driving mechanism therefor, whereby said pressure ating said pressure roller when a plate is disposed on said bed, including a constantly actuated pivoted arm, a lever connected to said pressure roller and normally disemgraged from said pivoted arm, and means controlledby said carriage for causing operative engagement of said lever and arm.

9. In a machine of the character described, the combination of a movable carriage having means thereon to hold a printing plate, a

bed adapted to support said plate,-a pressure roller associated with said bed and spaced therefrom a distance equal to the desired height of the printing characters on said plate, and-means for automatically actuating said pressure roller when a plate is disposed on said bed, including a constantly actuated pivoted armp-rovided with an abutmen-t,-a pivoted-lever connected to said pressure roller, a dog on said lever, means for normally holding said dog out'of the path of said abutment, and means controlled by said carriage forreleasing sai'd'dog.

10. In a machine of the character described, the combination 'olf a movable carriage having means thereon to hold a printing plate, a bed adapted'to support said plate, a pressure roller associated with said bed and spaced therefrom a distance equal to the desired height of the printing, characters on said plate, and means for auto matically actuating said pressure roller When a plate is disposed on said bed, including a constantlyactuated pivoted arm provided with an abutment, a pivoted lever connected to said pressure roller, a dog on said lever having an end adapted to engage said abutmentya latch normally holdingsaid dog from engagement with said abutment, and means controlled by said carriage for releasing said" dog, said latch being arranged to autoi-natically engage saiddog at the conclusion ofeach cycle of operations.

JOSEPH S. DUN CAN;

Witnesses":

7M. '0. BELT, M; A. Kmmn.

Gopis of this, patentmay be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of'Patents, Washington, 11). 0. 

